Scottish Executive

Air Services

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Department for Transport following the extension of the consultation period on The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom, Scotland A National Consultation .

Iain Gray: There are regular discussions with the Department for Transport regarding the Air Transport Consultation at both a ministerial and official level.

Census

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when additional results from the 2001 Census will be published.

Hugh Henry: Further results from the 2001 Census are published by the Registrar General today in two reports. The first of these, The Registrar General’s 2001 Census Report to the Scottish Parliament , provides summary statistics for the majority of census questions and topics, including where appropriate comparable statistics from the previous census in 1991. The second report, 2001 Key Statistics for Council areas and Health Board areas Scotland ,   provides summary statistics for the majority of census questions and topics for each council area and health board area.

  Copies of the reports are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 26398 and 26399 respectively), or from the GROS website (www.gro-scotland.gov.uk).

Common Agricultural Policy

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact recent proposals from the European Commission on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will have on farming.

Ross Finnie: Any assessment of the impact of the recent proposals to reform the CAP is dependent upon the detail of the provisions. Much of this is only becoming available in on-going working group discussions in Brussels.

  My main concern is that decoupling, which breaks the link between subsidy and production, could lead to a decline in farming activity in certain sectors, notably suckler beef, with adverse effects for rural economies. Also, the proposals for modulation and degression would discriminate against Scotland’s farmers and perpetuate the problem of the UK and Scotland’s historically low share of rural development funding.

  We support the principle of CAP reform, but I will continue to press the case for improvements to the package of proposals as it now stands.

Community Safety

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32582 by Ms Margaret Curran on 7 January 2003, whether all neighbourhood wardens will be expected to carry out duties of reducing crime or the fear of crime, reducing anti-social behaviour, improving environmental quality, promoting community cohesion, supporting vulnerable residents and building confidence in local agencies and intolerance of crime and disorder.

Ms Margaret Curran: The duties of particular wardens will be based on a local assessment of needs, but all schemes will contribute to the Scottish Executive’s commitment to build strong, safe communities.

Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to change the present method of reporting on schools and their pupils’ attainment through league tables.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive does not report on schools and their pupils’ attainment through league tables.

Education

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it will issue to local authorities on how they should spend the funding being made available to them under the schools estate funding package.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive Education Department will be issuing a circular to authorities in the course of the next few weeks which will provide further details.

Education

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to raise educational attainment of pupils in the early stages of secondary education.

Cathy Jamieson: The Executive’s response to the National Debate on Education recognised the importance of action to improve the outcomes of early secondary education for pupils.

  We will bring forward proposals to reduce class sizes and improve pupil/teacher ratios at critical stages such as P7, S1 and S2, and we will have teachers work flexibly across primary and secondary schools to help ease the transition for pupils.

  This will build on the work already done to ensure that schools have flexibility to deliver an appropriate curriculum, to help teachers make accurate judgements of pupils’ progress and to focus attention on literacy and numeracy between P6 and S2.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish figures on the incidence of violence against local authority school staff in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive does not publish by local authority area data on the incidence of violence and anti-social behaviour because variations in recording between authorities make it difficult to make reliable comparisons. Individual local authorities may choose to publish the data for their area.

  The Scottish Executive will be reviewing the collection of these statistics in order to improve consistency in reporting and when robust disaggregated data has been secured, we will consult on publishing local authority level data.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is undertaking into the cumulative effects of open cast coal mining and landfill on communities.

Des McNulty: No research is currently being undertaken specifically on this issue although there is completed and on-going work that should assist in assessing the likely cumulative effects of new proposals on communities. Where cumulative effects are likely to have significant environmental effects, an assessment of these effects is required by the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999.

Environment

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing plans for an accessible online pollution inventory.

Allan Wilson: Improving public access to clear and reliable information on the environment is a core part of the Scottish Executive's commitment to environmental justice.

  As I explained in the answer given to question S1W-29496 on 25 September 2002, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been allocated additional resources over the three-year period covered by the 2002 spending review. The resources include funding to enable the agency to implement plans for a comprehensive online pollution inventory.

  SEPA will launch such an inventory within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment that will allow data to be presented against an interactive map background and searched by location information (including postcode) in August 2005. This will represent the most significant development in providing public access to environmental information since the establishment of public registers in the early 90s. The inventory will comply with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. The precise activities required to report and the pollutants (with associated thresholds) featured will be subject to detailed consultation. An integral feature of SEPA’s plans will be the involvement of key stakeholders.

  As a first step, SEPA will provide online access to Scottish European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) emissions, initially in tabular form by the end of May 2003. They will be presented in GIS form by the end of August. SEPA will also publish electronically water quality maps in June 2004.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Fisheries

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements it has made to reduce the number of sea fishery officers as a result of the negotiated reduction in the size of the fishing fleet.

Ross Finnie: No arrangements have been made to reduce the number of sea fishery officers in Scotland. The need remains to regulate fisheries effectively, in the interests of sustainability and meeting our legal obligations. Enforcement resources remain, however, under constant review.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32577 by Mr Andy Kerr on 3 January 2003, why the answer did not give an explanation of whether liberalisation under the General Agreement on Trade in Services would prevent the reversal of its policy of encouraging public private partnerships and whether it will now give such an explanation.

Mr Andy Kerr: As already stated in previous questions, the public private partnerships (PPP) route is one of a number of procurement methods available for investment in the public sector. PPP will only be chosen over the conventional route when it can be shown to provide better value for money.

  PPP is governed by EU Procurement Regulations which already require an open and inclusive approach. The General Agreement on Trade in Services applies worldwide and its policy of liberalisation is not inconsistent with the rules under which PPP is procured.

Health

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans Argyll and Clyde NHS Board has to devolve management of the health service in its area.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Argyll and Clyde has just begun an engagement process towards proposals for a single system. It will take time to develop the right strategic approaches, to build the right partnerships, and to get decision making devolved as far as possible.

  However, I am confident that NHS Argyll and Clyde is well placed, under the interim management team, to build on the achievements of its workforce and develop excellent health care services.

Health

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Health and Community Care will next meet representatives of Forth Valley NHS Board and what issues they will discuss.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have no immediate plans to do so. Regular discussions take place, however, between the Scottish Executive and representatives of NHS boards, on a variety of issues.

Individual Learning Accounts

Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing a successor to the Individual Learning Account scheme and when a new scheme will be in place.

Iain Gray: I announced on 11 February the Executive’s Lifelong Learning Strategy which includes plans for a new Individual Learning Accounts scheme. The new scheme will be administered by the Students Awards Agency for Scotland. I wish to be sure that the new scheme takes full account of lessons learned from our experience of the original scheme and I shall make a further announcement when I have had the opportunity to consider Audit Scotland’s report on the earlier arrangements, which is due shortly.

Land Reform

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to protect tenant farmers in limited partnerships who have been served notice to quit before 4 February 2003.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive lodged an amendment to the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Bill at stage 2, that protects general partners within limited partnerships that are the tenant in a tenancy under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991, in instances where the landlord serves a notice to dissolve the partnership on or after 4 February 2003. As Allan Wilson explained to the Rural Development Committee when moving the amendment on 4 February, we are prepared to consider introducing a measure at stage 3 to protect general partners served with a notice of dissolution prior to that date, should that prove necessary to protect their interests. We are giving further thought to the matter.

Mental Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will review existing mental health service provision.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Mental Health and Well-being Support Group, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS), the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, the Social Work Services Inspectorate and the Performance Assessment Framework all play a part in evaluating the progress made in the provision of modern, responsive mental health services.

  More specifically, Mr Chisholm recently announced an assessment of existing mental health services in relation to the Mental Health (Scotland) Bill, now being considered by the Parliament. Details of this process are given in my answer to question S1W-33754 on 5 February 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Multiple Sclerosis

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in assessing the suitability of prescribing beta interferon and glatiramer acetate to people with multiple sclerosis.

Mr Frank McAveety: NHS boards are required to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that their patients with multiple sclerosis who meet criteria set out by the Association of British Neurologists can receive treatment with beta interferon or glatiramer acetate under the risk-sharing scheme.

  Data collected under the scheme is maintained by the scheme co-ordinator, Sheffield University’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). ScHARR has advised that specialist centres in Scotland are prescribing under the scheme.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the number of injuries reportable to the Health and Safety Executive at HM Prison Kilmarnock is included in the figures shown on page 9 of the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts 2001-02 .

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  No.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30372 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 November 2002, what the total number of injuries to prisoners reportable to the Health and Safety Executive at all prisons, including HM Prison Kilmarnock, was in each of the last five years and in 2002-03 to date.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The available information for the last five years, and for the period 1 April 2002 to 31 December 2003, is contained in the following table:

  


Year 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  

2002-03 
  



Total 
  

23 
  

24 
  

12 
  

32 
  

24 
  

11

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32358 by Hugh Henry on 17 January 2003, what the (a) estate development budget and (b) budget for cost of capital has been in (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99, (iii) 1999-2000, (iv) 2000-01, (v) 2001-02 and (vi) 2002-03 to date and what the expenditure outturn has been in each case.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The available information is:

  


Expenditure 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  

2002-03 
  



Budget
(£ million) 
  

Outturn
(£ million) 
  

Budget
(£ million) 
  

Outturn
(£ million) 
  

Budget
(£ million) 
  

Forecast
(£ million) 
  



Estate Development 
  

28.7 
  

21.5 
  

41.0 
  

21.1 
  

52.0 
  

35.1 
  



Cost of Capital 
  
 
 

24.8 
  

21.7 
  

25.2 
  

22.3 
  



  Notes:

  1. Budget details are no longer retained on the financial system for year 1999-2000 and prior years.

  2. Cost of capital was introduced with resource budgeting in 2001-02.

  3. 2001-02 and 2002-03 budgets include in-year £12.5 million transfer from current budget in line with Ministerial Key Performance Indicators.

  4. Estate development underspend versus budget was carried forward, in full, to the following period under the Scottish Executive End-Year Flexibility arrangements and related to financial commitments in future periods.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32525 by Hugh Henry on 29 January 2003, when the Scottish Prison Service will submit the appropriate planning notification for the construction of a new prison to the relevant authority.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  When a suitable site has been identified and the necessary information is available to support a planning application.

Registers of Scotland

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Registers of Scotland has comprehensive data available in relation to house prices.

Hugh Henry: The two property registers in Scotland, the General Register of Sasines and the Land Register of Scotland, are maintained by Registers of Scotland. Deeds of transfer recorded in the Sasine Register, which is a register of deeds, generally contain the consideration (price) paid for the property. Similarly, in the case of the Land Register, which is a register of title, the consideration paid for a property, if shown in the deed of transfer, will be reflected in the title sheet for that property. Information on any property in the two registers is publicly available, the relevant charge being £2 plus VAT for the Sasine Register and £4 plus VAT for the Land Register.

  Many businesses and individuals have a need for comparative house price data. Registers of Scotland has responded to this demand by offering a low-cost online service called Land Register Property Prices, details of which are available on the Registers of Scotland website. This allows a search for the very latest sale prices of any property that has been registered in the Land Register in Scotland. A search can be made of Land Register counties by street or postcode, and spans a maximum of six months, depending on how long a county has been operational in terms of the Land Register. Results are e-mailed or posted out, the charge for this service being £4 plus VAT.

Road Safety

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to combat speeding on roads.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is addressing the issue of inappropriate and excessive speed through a combination of engineering, enforcement and education.

Rural Affairs

Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made towards the implementation of the fallen stock scheme.

Ross Finnie: Proposals for a fallen stock scheme are under active consideration. Key stakeholders are closely involved in this process.

Scottish Executive Advertising

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-5698 by Mr Andy Kerr on 3 October 2002, whether the Minister for Finance and Public Services has now provided advice to the First Minister on any plans to reduce Executive advertising; whether the advertising budget will be reduced by 25%, and what the cost has been, and is projected to be in total, of each new advertising campaign since 3 October 2002.

Mr Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31578 on 3 December 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  Since 3 October 2002 the following new campaigns have run or are currently projected to run within the remainder of this financial year.

  New Advertising Campaigns from 3 October 2002 to 31 March 2003

  


Advertising Campaign Title 
  

Invoiced Cost to Date (£) 
  

Projected Total Cost (£) 
  



Child Protection on the Internet 
  

103,201 
  

130,000 
  



Domestic Abuse 
  

284,346 
  

500,000 
  



Healthy Living 
  

438,569 
  

1,140,000 
  



Home Reading 
  

93,031 
  

229,000 
  



Safer Scotland 
  

164,298 
  

209,000 
  



Social Care 
  

439,948 
  

540,000 
  



Regional Selective Assistance 
  

0 
  

50,000

Sport

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17603 by Mr Jack McConnell on 14 September 2001, what progress is being made in assessing the need for swimming facilities for pupils and what action arising from the review of swimming provision may result in the provision of such facilities to children in Aberdeenshire.

Nicol Stephen: The audit of current swimming provision I announced on 24 May 2001 is now complete and copies of the report have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 25875) and will shortly be distributed to all local authorities. Learning and Teaching Scotland has been commissioned to identify barriers to provision and suggest effective solutions to overcoming these barriers. This will provide valuable advice to local authorities and schools and a report of this work will be available later this year.

  In June 2002, local authorities were invited to bid for Quality of Life funding for initiatives aimed at supporting children and young people and improving the local environment. Seventeen local authorities decided to allocate almost £2 million for swimming provision in a range of proposals. Aberdeenshire Council received £300,000 for exercise promotion which included swimming. A further £180 million of Quality of Life funding has been allocated to local authorities over the next three years. Local authorities have been invited to submit proposals by 20 February and swimming lessons are eligible for funding under this scheme.

  Of course, swimming is part of the physical education curriculum which is currently being reviewed under my chairmanship. I believe that all children should be given the opportunity to learn to swim, and improve that ability, whether through home or school opportunities. I will be asking all local authorities to review the information provided in this report and to consider whether swimming lessons could be extended, for example through bids under the Quality of Life Fund.

Tourism

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether membership of area tourist boards should not be made compulsory for tourist businesses.

Mike Watson: The review of area tourist boards is still under way and the outcome will be announced in due course; this will include the relationship between boards and tourist businesses in the area.

Transport

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in commencing transport projects in Inverclyde and, in particular, the replacement of the A78 West Station Bridge and construction of the Cloch Road End roundabout.

Lewis Macdonald: Inverclyde Council, Strathclyde Passenger Transport, Network Rail and the Scottish Executive are making good progress on a number of transport projects in Inverclyde. Negotiations on the A78 West Station Bridge should be complete soon. Preparation work continues on the A78/A770 Cloch Road scheme and we expect that the scheme will be ready to go to tender in the summer.